Thursday, December 30, 2010

The much talked about RIM Tablet, namely the PlayBook, is to be one of the new Tablets to debut along with the as yet named Motorola Tablet at CES 2011 in Las Vegas as per the article “It’s tablet time at CES 2011”, published December 24, 2010, 3:49am PST by John Morris, Laptops & Desktops, ZDNet.

Most likely, with only days to go until CES 2011 in Las Vegas, everything is moving into place and all the products have been tested and made ready for their world debut. Again, another guess: Motorola may be doing a tie-in with George Lucas of Star Wars fame.

Thus this story being carried by CNET and which is a regurgitation of the news by Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu claim as to a weak battery life being the reason behind the delay to 2011 may be nothing more than a play for media attention, straight out of RIM CEO Lazardis Playbook – pun intended deliberately.

The feisty kickback from Canada’s No. 2 smart phone maker to Reuters (who else but the International Media?), is bull’s eye for the Media paparazzi at large to attack as per the article “RIM rejects claims of weak PlayBook battery”, published December 30, 2010 1:08 PM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Digital Media.

Email from RIM to Reuters, quote: “Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented” should be the match that sets the fire to the kindling for a slow smoky Bar-B-Que quality flame. MM…mmm.

Thus RIM is off to a nice start. Their Tablet concept is excellent, as it is a Business Tablet, targeting a niche Market that it always had. Throw in the fact that the RIM PlayBook tethers to your existing Blackberry smartphone via Bluetooth and is effectively an extension of the Blackberry OS, only on a bigger screen.

Long time fans of RIM and their Blackberry already used to the Blackberry smartphone will appreciate the fact that unlike the Apple iPad, it is not just a bigger Apple iPhone, but a Business Enterprise Solution on the go that easily replaces your Laptop, especially in meetings where the Blackberry is not needed.

Throw in RIM’s legendary security, so strong that not even RIM can hack their own encryption as per the article “RIM chief suggests method for eavesdropping”, published September 28, 2010 8:36 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Privacy Inc and despite the failure of the test-run device capacitive touch scene Blackberry Torch 8900, the Playbook may be their finest hour.

Especially as RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie (is there such a thing?) spoke of the company being, quote “pretty flooded with content and game-type and media-type partnerships and social-solution-type partnerships”, with what appears to be, quote “pent-up interest in the PlayBook [that's] really overwhelming”, as per the article “Blackberry Playbook landing as soon as February?”, published December 17, 2010 7:11 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home.

Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.

Ralph Waldo Emerson American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, (1803-1882)

Ever since the JDX (Jamaica debt Exchange) was initiated in early February of 2010, progress has been steady and slow, with the JDX exposing the fact that the main factor holding back the growth in the Jamaican Economy being the Banking Sector and their result to lower their lending rate spreads and the need to diversify our Energy Supply away from Oil as per my blog article entitled “JDX - Progress since the start of the New Financial Year 2010-2011”.

Again, it is always around Christmas that the news out of North America reminds me of why I do not envy Americans, as I am not fond of living in a freezer as stated the article “Flights resume - as do the long lines - after blizzard”, published Tuesday December 28, 2010 11:55 am ET by CHRIS HAWLEY and MEGHAN BARR, Associated Press, Yahoo! News.

Possibly the REAL reason for PayLess Shoesource coming to Jamaica, as opposed to the explanation proffered by Michael Stern, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce who spoke, quote: “A lot of foreign companies are now showing interest in Jamaica, especially since the reduction in the crime rate”

This after recoding an initial loss of 40% due to administrative costs in the First Quarter of 2010 as per the article, testament to the power of Product Placement Marketing as per the article “Blue Power's profits fall”, published Friday, September 10, 2010, by Alicia Roache, The Jamaica Observer.

Apparently, the nascent recovery from the Recession in the United States of America mean that American Companies, ironically, though willing to keep production and sales within the United States of America, have come to the realization that International markets are worth the trouble, especially as many of the Developing World countries are increasing showing a taste for all-things American!

Even more compelling evidence is the fact that albeit one million (1,000,000) jobs have been created in the United States of America, nearly one million, four hundred thousand (1,400,000) have been created Internationally, at least according to the Washington Policy think tank The Economic Policy Institute as stated in the article “Many US companies hiring overseas”, published Wednesday, December 29, 2010, AP, The Jamaica Observer.

This is evidence of the skill set and better education levels of foreigners [read: Jamaicans] versus American workers.

Jamaica, despite the Recession, is still a seasonal beneficiary of the harsh blizzard like conditions in the US of A on the Eastern Seaboard, seeing record stopovers to our warm Caribbean isles as per the article “Harsh winter working in Jamaica's favour”, published Tuesday, December 28, 2010 byINGRID BROWN Observer senior reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Is this the first sign of a coming recovery? Or is it just an indication of just how bad it is to do business in America? Stay tuned………

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I
returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of
understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to
them all.

Ecclesiastes
9:11, King James Version

The
recent ruling by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), the Telecoms
arm of the UN (United Nations) and Pope to us in the Telecoms World, has a lot
of far reaching implications.

One
such implication can be readily gleaned from the press release in the article
by CNET Reporter Kent German entitled “ITU blesses U.S
Data Networks as 4G”, published December 20, 2010 3:12 PM PST by
Kent German, CNET News - Dialed In also
expanded upon in my blog article
entitled “Digicel the ITU
and Samsung Galaxy Tablet - The Sorcerer's Apprentice”, quote: “It
is recognized that [4G], while undefined, may also be applied to the
forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMaX, and to other evolved 3G
technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and
capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now
deployed”.

This
means that Networks that are an augmentation of the HSDPA networks, such as
HSDPA+ Networks, can also be considered 4G, as they are a precursor to the
prior mentioned qualifications to be 4G, putting Telecom Provider T-Mobile into
the driver’s seat as it relates to what can be considered 4G.

This
was later explained in my blog article
entitled “LIME vs Digicel
- The Truth About Charlie” as being a response to Telecom Provider
CLARO expansion into LTE, who naturally, would have to pre-purchase T1 for the
intended provisioning of their service.

LTE
for CLARO would push them ahead of everyone in terms of speed, and would most
likely be offered as a tiered service. However, 10MBps is quite adequate for
even Business Customers and Telecom Provider Digicel has recently upgraded
their Microwave Radio Links with adequate T1’s to provide 10MBps best effort, noticeable
in recent speed improvements in at Nighttime, albeit daytime congestion at
certain peak traffic hours still remain an issue as per my blog article
entitled “Digicel and
WiMaX 4G Mobile - Sprint, My Brother's Keeper”, an article which,
admittedly, shows my bias towards WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e).

The
fact that to date Telecom Provider Digicel has
chosen not to be drawn into a speed race with Triple Play Provider FLOW means
that their focus is on Customer Care and building their Customer base, as
Telecom Provider Digicel,
John Public muses, is aware that the average Jamaica is more interested in
quality service and not necessarily obsessed with specs and download speeds as
are the TechJamaica forum
fanatics, fans of gadgets with no sex appeal.

With
such speeds of 100MBps rivaling Frame Relay offered as part of Telecom Provider
LIME Metro Net Service, which is a Fiber Optic Service for Business Customers,
their obvious prime target must be business Customers.

This
necessitates Data Services that are always on all the time with no downtime,
implying Alternative Energy solutions such as a Solar Power Generator with Wind
Turbine combination, Fiber Optics as backhaul and QoS (Quality of Service) as
Wireless for Business Customers is not trusted and is known to be easily
interceptable, if a hacker’s will is strong enough.

Thus,
were I to have the ability to speak to Telecom Provider CLARO directly, it
would be to suggest to have their GSM and 3G Telecoms Equipment Vendor Huawei
to upgrade their 3G Network to HSDPA+.

This
is akin to the clever move by Telecom Provider T-Mobile. Telecom Provider CLARO
would thus up speeds to at least 10MBps, with Data Caps going up to 30GB, but
imploring Customers that they would be able to receive these higher speeds if
they come in to the nearest Customer Care Center and re-register themselves
with Government of Jamaica Identification i.e. Birth Certificate, Driver’s
License, Voter’s ID, to get this free upgrade to higher speeds upgrade,
maintaining the same price margins similar to the 1.5MBps 3G service – which
ironically are akin to those of Telecom Provider Digicel and their Broadband 4G
Service.

Thus
they stay competitive with their fellow Wireless Broadband competitors and
extend the usefulness of their 3G Network from Telecoms Equipment Vendor
Huawei, getting more “bang for buck”, as the Americans would say and use the
time to build out their LTE Network in keeping with ISO9001.

A
better guarantee of success than a speed race against Triple Play Provider
FLOW! As the cherry atop the Vanilla ice cream, Telecom Provider CLARO would
gain the added distinction of being a 4G Network via the recent ITU ruling,
without having to expend that much cash, simply by going HSDPA+.

Telecom
Provider LIME would also best upgrade to HSDPA+ and speeds of 10MBps also,
before considering going to LTE with Telecoms Equipment Vendor Ericsson. Thus
all of the Big Three (3) Telecom Provider would be on par in terms of speed and
pricing with their more nimble competitors Wayne Chen and Lee’s owned Municipal
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1- Tech
Services Limited, who ironically are the true threat to the Big
Three (3) Telecom Provider expensive Wireless Broadband Services.

Ironically,
Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks are powered by T1 from Triple Play
Provider FLOW. Triple Play Provider FLOW, is ironically the ultimate
Beneficiary in all of this, as Big Three (3) Telecom Provider and the Municipal
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks utilize their T1 Services, effectively making John
Public realize that Triple Play Provider FLOW CEO Michelle “Dallas” English,
sitting at the Telecom Provider’s poker Table, is really holding a Full House
in her hand, Maverick (1994) Style!

As Carletta Deleon aka the Pet Tales Chick aka
“Dilly” character on Smile Jamaica on Television would say, quote “Clever
indeed!”

After all, the ITU is the Telecoms equivalent of the Papacy in the Catholic World, and their decrees handed down from Vatican City [Geneva, Switzerland] to the Telecoms Cardinals [CEO’s] worldwide is law, fact know to all trained Telecoms people, but oft forgotten by the younger set of Technicians – and unknown to Outsiders, at least those not reading newspapers and those not reading my blog!

Of course, Telecom Provider is not vocal about it, but I am sure that they immediately made a submission to the FTC (Fair Trading Commission) regarding the ITU’s ruling and thus have the claim of misrepresentation made by Telecom Provider LIME’s Regional vice-president for Legal, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Camille Taylor (more long titles!!! Gosh!!!) dismissed.

Please note that this is, strictly speaking, a regulatory claim, not legal claim, as the FTC is not a court, merely an arm of the Government of Jamaica’s Telecom Regulatory Board to oversee that Telecom Providers, albeit FDI (Foreign Direct Investors), are not deceiving Customers. Legal action as a means of revenge, therefore, is a meaningless reaction and is not in keeping with the Art of War, a guidebook for competition among Japanese and Chinese Technology giants, too numerous to list.

Throw in the fact that it will help to save Newspapers, give Jamaicans freedom of choice to watch content on YouTube, Netflix, Hulu (assuming they can get Virtual VISA Credit Cards and PayPal on a wire transfer enable bank account!) and help both Television Jamaica and CVM TV all in one go (sounding a bit British, eh! I’m excited!!), not to mention Streamed Video Game playing such as from the likes of Steam as well as OnLive, assuming of course the free apps form the Google Market place are not to your liking, which I would prefer.

Not only will it have the proud distinction of being the first Tablet in Jamaica successfully promoted by a Telecom Provider with Telecom Provider Digicel behind it, but it will definitely be a blueprint as to how to make a Tablet a success in a Developing World country already used to Netbooks and Laptops.

LIME TV just got the air punched out of their sails by sheer innovation alone – a Tablet whose design, whether you believe it or not, is a suggestion of mine to Samsung via a bunch of brain dead Shurpower Engineers in April of 2009. Not to mention just having a bigger 7” AMOLED screen, truly evidence of them being the “Bigger, Better Network”.

Oh wait, I did recommend that to Telecom Provider LIME via email, and I DID rant about in my blog article entitled “LIME TV v Netflix - 101 Dalmatians”. Telecom Provider LIME needs to pull out the big Guns, otherwise the LIME TV phones will become expensive paperweights only TechJamaica, aficionados of failed tech products with no mass sex appeal, will love.

They will have to roll out the stealth bomber that is set-top boxes for TV’s (possibly offering persons a HDTV compliant Flat Screen TV in the process?) as well as the app/codec to enable viewing on existing Blackberry and other smart phones or launch their own Tablet to sell their LIME TV platform.

This is with services ranging from Video Calling to Video Game Platforms services such as from Steam as well as OnLive ….albeit I must admit, my imagination runs the gamut of the strange sometimes!

Telecom Provider LIME, as Broadcasters would have long ago told them, the viewers in the Broadcasting Market has very finicky tastes; DC Digital, the content provider behind LIME TV, has a lot to learn.

Evidence that it may be so, despite Telecom Provider Digicel’s success with DigiTV in Vanatu and Samoa islands in the Pacific, can be seen from the recent failure of Flo TV as per the article “Qualcomm prepares to ditch Flo TV”, published October 5, 2010 6:05 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength, now a dead service as no-one knows why anyone would watch TV on a phone.

Telecom Provider LIME, however, may have escaped this assassination with a flesh wound; LIME TV is a VAS within a VAS, so their expenditure was modest, built on their 3G Network as per my explanation in my blog article entitled “LIME and LIME TV - Lara Croft Tomb Raider”.

Clever, Telecom Provider Digicel in their never-ending battle against Telecom Provider LIME; Marketing trumps Technical know-how yet again. But in the midst of all this brouhaha, a pattern is slowly beginning to coalesce.

Here is Telecom Provider CLARO, who appears to be locked in a titanic struggle to beat Triple Play Provider FLOW in the equivalent of speeds races akin to Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) movie to see who is the fastest, something only technology geeks would appreciate.

Now Triple Play Provider FLOW facing competition from all sides as well and they are all Wireless. Alliances albeit not officially so, being formed between Telecom Provider Digicel and Wayne Chen and Lees owned Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1- Tech Services Limited via this Samsung Galaxy Tablet.

A possible software upgrade to HSDPA+, which is now 4G thanks to the ITU, may soon be the weapon of choice for Telecom Provider CLARO 3G weapon built by Huawei in the interim building out their LTE Network powered by Ericsson to stave off competition from Telecom Provider Digicel . Telecom Provider LIMEmay be considering this soon as well, as traffic build up due to LIME TV and other streaming activity as their Network slowly expands.

Even the Big Three (3) Broadcasters, the Calvary in this whole strategy, are being reluctantly drawn into the battle, with both Television Jamaica and CVM TV already outfitting X-Wing fighters…. ..er…….I mean shielded servers to stream their content betwixt being forced under the gun by the Broadcasting Commission to go HDTV.

What, oh what will Triple Play Provider FLOW CEO Michelle “Dallas” English do, having set off all this “demand” now engulfing her company with counter-attack after counter attack? Stay tuned to my blog and find out in the next exciting episode!!!……….. Gossip Girl style, XOXO.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

We cannot safely leave politics to politicians, or political economy to college professors

Henry George, Social Problems

Merry Christmas to all on this Saturday December 25th 2010. I must admit my writing focus has been mostly on technology of late and thus I have not spared a thought for the going-on in my own country, leaving many of my Jamaica blogger colleagues and fan mail viewers to point out me, rather slyly, if I really rather live in the US of A as opposed to Jamaica.

To such readers, the answer is an emphatic no: not fond of battling it out with the cold weather, as despite never having seen or experienced snow, I express none such desire; my horizontal refrigerator being example enough! Worse, the weather here is abnormally cold and unfortunately, the mosquitoes do not seem to be letting up either, thus I clank on my handy PC between slaps on my legs and wrists – and puffs on my chocolate pipe, musing as I do.

Indeed, I have been keeping an eye on Local News, particularly in Parliament, which has gotten exciting again, thanks to an argumentative joust by Prime Minister Bruce Golding in his rousing of his political opponents in the PNP (Peoples National Party) by asserting that Jamaica needs to have its own Appellate Court as opposed to joining the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) as per the article “It's time to move forward with the CCJ”, published Friday, December 24, 2010, The Jamaica Observer.

Clever forte, as by argueing that Jamaica need such an expensive legal organ, Prime Minister Bruce Golding is in effect leaving the PNP no room to oppose the CCJ, which Jamaica already contributes to (like duh-uh!!! Green Papers, people!!), but has been unable to ratify and join, mainly due to past divisions on the issue in Parliament.

Via this clever argument, it gives the PNP room to “agree” on what is effectively a bi-partisan issue without losing face in front of their political supporters, already viewing the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) and its strict taxation policies as being hugely unpopular. Most certainly sets the tone for more exciting political pitched battles both within Parliament and among the populi.

Thus, do not be surprised at some later juncture in the sitting of Parliament in 2011 that the issue is put to vote in the Lower House (House of Representative) and then the Upper House (Senate) and is thus duly passed with the required two-thirds majority, now that the PNP is full behind the CCJ.

Just in time too, as the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Government of Jamaica is coming under heavy criticism of not fully ratifying into law the CCJ as their Final Appellate, despite their monetary support as stated in the article “Jamaica, Trinidad criticized over CCJ”, published Sunday, October 17, 2010, CMC, The Jamaica Observer.

That said, there is also another issue which needs to be tackled with equal argumentative earnestness and it relates to the High Importation Duties imposed by the Government of Jamaica on New and Used Car Dealers. This in addition to improving the quality of Diesel Fuel in Jamaica by lowering the Sulphur concentration from 5000ppm to 10 to 15ppm as Senator Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry and Commerce appears to be suggesting as per the article “Government moving to improve motor Fuel quality - Samuda”, published Sunday, November 28, 2010, by MARK CUMMINGS, The Jamaica Observer.

My blog is all about offering solutions, so here I dive in. An all-inclusive solution would be to encourage the development of the Bio-Fuel industry, specifically as it relates to making Anhydrous Ethanol, Bio-Diesel and synthetic version of Gasoline, thus engaging the Private Sector in the Investment and Development of a vibrant, Local Bio-Fuel Sector and solving the High Sulphur content problem all at once.

The Government of Jamaica, however, must also lower the Import Duties on all Motor Vehicles less than four (4) years old as a means of jump-starting the New Vehicle Industry, possibly giving Duty Waivers for All-Electric Vehicles and Flex-Fuel Vehicles as a counterweight to the Government of Jamaica upgrading the PetroJam Refinery (which they no longer own!) and opening up the Bio-Fuel Market as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Diesel Sulphur Content - Casino Royale”.

This last additional argument about reducing the Duty on the Importation of New Vehicles, SPECIFICALLY with All-Electric Vehicles and Flex-Fuel Vehicles being duty free, attracting a full waiver, would help to ease the disparity in prices noticed by the Jamaican consumer between us and our American Neighbours. This is as the disparity between the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of a new imported Japanese vehicle versus its price here in Jamaica cannot be explained.

This is save to say that it is the onerously High Import Duties being charged on Motor Vehicle Importation, for which there is no logical explanation, except that it is the Government of Jamaica “milking” the Auto Industry as a means of getting at people with “unexplained disposable income”(my take on the issue!) as suggested by the President of the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association, Lynvalle Hamilton in the article “Jamaicans pay twice as much as US customers for cars”, published Friday, December 24, 2010, The Jamaica Observer.

The President of the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association, Lynvalle Hamilton (what a long title, man!!) words speak clearly enough, quote:“The [Jamaican] Government has one of the highest duty structure in our region as it relates to motor vehicles”.

His words echoed prior by ATL and Stewart Auto Sales Deputy Chairman Adam Stewart, who spoke saying, quote “Clean fuel is the beginning (to protect the environment), getting access to the latest technology is (also) the beginning, but without bringing the duties down so that people in Jamaica can afford these cars under an environmental initiative, the problem will get worse”.

A plug for the environment for the Auto Industry is positive enough a spin for advertising these very same All-Electric Vehicles and Flex-fuel Vehicles to Jamaicans wary of their performance on Jamaican roads.

This is progressive talk that the Jamaican motorists would like to hear from our Local Auto Industry, as opposed to the one-sided protectionists arguments of Kent LaCroix, President of the Automobile Dealers Association (ADA) on behalf of the Used Car Industry in his opposition to All-Electric Vehicles as per the article “Is Jamaica ready for Electric vehicles ?”, published Friday, October 01, 2010, The Jamaica Observer as the Used Car Industry is, well, a bit overused, clogging our roads with vehicles that are not roadworthy.

Jamaica would be caught unprepared, left behind by the rest of the world driving their All-Electric Vehicles and Flex-Fuel Vehicles with our local Power Utility Company (PUC) Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS Co.) unable to cope with All-Electric Vehicle that cannot be charged without frequently tripping the Power Utility’s Grid as suggested in the article “Utilities thrilled and worried about electric cars”, published November Tuesday 23 2010, The Jamaica Observer and Diesel and Gasoline with such internationally unacceptable levels of Sulphur of 5000 ppm for Flex-Fuel Vehicles.

Not to mention the lack of Electric charging Station in the first place! There is also no wide scale adoption of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) Vehicle conversions and Filling Stations or other support Infrastructure.

Thus a Government of Jamaica Plan of Action on these dual issues is clear, multi-pronged and should easily be seen as bi-partisan. It must involve all of the above, done quickly over a single year to ensure Jamaica’s Transition to a Caribbean Final Court of Appeal as well as the survival of the Local Auto Industry.

But as it catches on in Jamaica, especially if a trade-in of your old vehicle option is available, Jamaicans will wonder to themselves: Why was I every driving such a noisy vehicle, Gattaca (1997) Style?!

This incident may have made Google’s Marketing Department (I assume Google does marketing!!) realize the grandeur and complexity of Skype’s VoIP Empire – not to mentioned users disgusted with Skype’s outage and looking for stable, cheaper, flexible and more stable and less “bloat-ware” [American Colloquial] riddled options, hence their extension to woo more of Skype’s customers across.

But as it is Google involved, VoIP also has an innocuous connection to the rise of the Tablet, spurred by the introduction of the Amazon Kindle. Especially as Google Chrome OS is now out and about prowling around, threatening Microsoft with their tightly integrated mixture of Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Bookstore and now Google Gmail and Google Voice all over the cloud on Tablets as well as on smart books as per my blog article entitled “Microsoft Windows 7 vs Google Chrome OS et al - 300 and Quo Vadis Dominae”.

Since the Amazon Kindle crash landed on the scene and recently reduced it prices to within striking distance of the Apple iPad on its Amazon Kindle 3 as per the article “Amazon Temporarily sells out Newest Kindle e-Readers”, published Tuesday August 3rd 2010 by Mark Long, newsfactor.com, Yahoo News, reading is back in vogue.

The Apple iPad is threatening to encroach on the Amazon Kindle’s ebook and eNewspaper (is there such a thing?) market, as the idea of books on Tablets and eReaders has slowly caught on from the small smoldering fire to a now raging firestorm. The verdict is obvious folks: Now with the Tablet and smart phone form factor, the Newspaper in its current paper based format is effectively dead as per the article on Administrator Kirk’s Geezam blog entitled “Newspapers vs Online Publications”.

The Amazon Kindle, which started all this reader madness in November 19 2007 with the first Generation Amazon Kindle on Telecom Provider Verizon, as per the history buffs in the WikiPedia article entitled “Amazon Kindle”, viewed December 24 2010, Wikipedia and then went on to produce Second Generation Amazon Kindle for an expensive US$399 as in the article by CNET Editor Molly Wood entitled “Amazon Kindle 2: It's NOT too expensive”, published February 9, 2009 4:27 PM PST by Molly Wood, CNET News - Crave went on the defensive.

However, the Apple iPad is also credited with reviving the hopes of the once thriving Newspaper Industry, which once laughed at the Silicon Valley CEO’s with their single websites that went bust in the 90’s only to grovel at their feet as more and more Generation X [ages 14 to 28] and Generation Y [ages 29 to 45] began ditchin’ long sheets for Online spreads (sheets? Alas, no words to fill the gap…..!) as per the article “US Newspapers look to online editions as possible saviours”, published Wednesday March 28 2007 by Catherine Hours, AFP, Yahoo News.

Thus, the arrival of the Amazon Kindle held out the hope of a Star Trek-like device that would fire the imagination of a disinterested Generation X [ages 14 to 28] and Generation Y [ages 29 to 45] and thus revive the flagging hopes of once proud and mighty Empire of The Paper Man (TV Mini-series 1990) style, now gone online but with significantly reduced staff compliments and revenues.

Bloggers at CNET and ZDNet, please do not be so smug. Derided for years as being nothing more than fame seeking journalistic wannabees, the blogger is now a respectable specimen of the journalistic community.

No longer considered Neanderthals, we are on par if not equals with the homo sapiens otherwise known as Newspaper and Television Journalist, repackaging the news in a more palatable format for today’s generation: shorter stories, Video and Audio Podcasts consumable on smartphones and now the Tablet, attributable to CEO Steve Jobs.

The Apple iPad, despite its design flaws as per my blog article entitled “Apple iPad and the Future of Computing” has now set off a firestorm of creativity in the assumed dead Silicon Valley Electronics and Design Teams, with almost monthly announcements of Tablets.

The possibility abounds that this may be a Platform not only for Newspapers, such as the Jamaica Observer, now with integrated Video Reporting to complement Google Voice with its Video Calling on this most capable of tablets, but also for Television as well, especially Television Jamaica and CVM TV . In essence, Telecom Provider Digicel has just saved both Newspapers and Television in Jamaica in one fell swoop, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) style…..